Anyone who decides to give up electricity for an entire year to draw attention to climate change has to be a little crazy, right? So how crazy would someone have to be to give up electricity and elevators and toilet paper and about a million other comforts we take for granted?

Not that crazy at all, Colin Beavan would tell you. The author, blogger and self-described "guilty liberal" gave them all up for an entire year, not as a way to save money or "stick it to the man," but to answer some fundamental questions.

"The reason for going all the way was that it was a way of asking the question: what do we really need?" Beavan told Canada AM earlier this week from New York.

"We imagine we should be going up to our necks in credit card debt and working two jobs to get all this stuff. But what makes us happy? And what can we have that makes us happy that won't harm the planet?"

To find out, Beavan decided to see if he could go "off the grid" while living an otherwise normal life in downtown Manhattan. Forced to ride along on the experiment were Beavan's wife, Michelle Conlin, and their then-two-year-old daughter, Isabella.

Beavan hoped his new asceticism would allow him not to just reduce his "carbon footprint," but to make no negative impact on the environment at all. To document his experiment, he got himself a blog and a moniker: No Impact Man.

The blog was an instant success and soon sparked a book deal and a film. "No Impact Man," the documentary, arrived in selected theatres last week.

Beavan is not surprised his blog led to a book; in fact, that's what the already-published author considered doing first.

"Back in 2006, when this started, I was hugely concerned about climate change and I was feeling like it wasn't getting enough attention," Beavan explained.

"At first, I thought I should write a book about how everyone else should change, and then I realized I was contributing to the problem too. So I thought maybe I should figure out what I could change."

His life changes were phased in slowly. First, Beavan and his Starbucks espresso-addicted wife gave up takeout and delivery food of all kinds, turning instead to organic and vegetarian food bought at local farmers' markets.

Next, they had their TV hauled away from their ninth-floor Manhattan apartment. They then stopped using the washing machine and dryer. Soon, they had given up just about everything one associates with modern life: microwaves, makeup, shopping, plastic, even elevators and public transit, just to see if they could "locomote" themselves instead of depending on others.

Six months into the year, came the most dramatic step: they got rid of the refrigerator and switched off the electricity.

The family made a few discoveries they had probably expected, including that walking everywhere and scrubbing your own laundry can lead to a 20-pound weight loss. But the family learned things they hadn't expected, including that slowing your life down brings its own rewards.

"What turns out to be good for the planet turned out to be good for people," Beavan said.

"When we got rid of television and the processed food, what we ended up doing is getting more exercise and eating really good food, and spending time as a family. So what happened is we let go of this really fast-paced life and all of a sudden, all these subtle pleasures came into our lives."

With the experiment over for almost two years now, Beavan estimates the family has kept about 60 per cent of the changes permanent.

They have a small refrigerator again and they take elevators now, as well as the subway when biking just isn't practical. But they still eat locally grown food, they still don't use air conditioning and they still don't go on shopping sprees.

And they still spend time together.

"The best part of it was we ended up spending so much time with our little girl," Beavan said. "And I think the year really set the tone for us as parents."